Irish Catholics forget their roots

It’s troubling that “the face of the white GOP backlash is so frequently Irish Catholic,” like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, says Joan Walsh in Salon. By demonizing government services, they ignore how government helped build “the Irish Catholic middle class” by protecting unions and providing public sector jobs, she says.

5 Responses

If the generation of workers who forced reform hadn’t we wouldn’t have rights as workers. Look at the factory in India that just killed over 100 people. Don’t say it was politicians who made it happen, remember politicians are also friendly with the rich. Laborers died in disputes over unsafe practices low wages… My Irish catholic family grew up in poverty worked its a$$ off to achieve some great things. When there wasn’t food they didn’t eat. No government money fed them, a hunger to better themselves and be self sufficient did. Saying there is no work is bull. No work you are willing to do is more accurate. Through this recession I worked multiple jobs to make it work. 70 hr weeks suck but It’s called work for a reason. There are far to many able bodied workers on govt assistance. far to many lazy people work the system getting benefits meant to help those down on their luck. Shame on them.

There is little doubt that some of these pigs in question are no less the descendants of those who would have been forced into starvation by Britains genocidal, food-shortage-inducing policies toward Irish Catholics than I am. However, it should be kept in mind that there is a black-on-white difference between the Scots-Irish who later settled much of the American South and the Appalachians, and the people whose land they settled as pawns against them, before they decided that life in American would be more peaceful.

The Scots-Irish have also been the most consistently political group in the US throughout their history. Being religious to a degree that it would be comical if it weren’t so damaging to those who such behavior has harmed, they tend to demonstrate how a religious culture influences political activism. The result is a culture which worships it’s leaders, relies on scapegoats, racial hatred and homophobia to maintain social stability, and fears all intellectual and scientific progress which cannot be credited to their bible. Now don’t think I’m unaware that I may be guilty of resorting to my own racial/cultural stereotypes which this group has been so widely reputed for, but also don’t forget, TU, who it was who started this stereotyping match!

Hey Joan,
It was the Irish themselves that built the Irish middle class not the government! It was the government and the media that portrayed our ancestors as pigs in the newspapers and in satirical cartoons. In fact, government did little to help Irish Immigrants, rather it was those political party bosses like Tweed and later Daley and Dan O’Connell right here in Albany, that helped the Irish assimilate. Remember the sign, “No Irish Need Apply” ? I’m certain that the Hannity’s and the O’Reilly’s worked for everything they had…

I think Jay is confusing poor with not willing to work. Just because you are poor or come from a poor family history doesn’t mean you and/or your predecessors don’t/didn’t work hard or were on government support.